Hello, little learners! Today, we are going to talk about something fun called phonics. Phonics is all about learning how to read words by understanding the sounds that letters make. Let’s start with the first step in phonics, which is called decoding.
Decoding is like a magical power that helps you read words! It means you can look at a letter and know what sound it makes. Isn’t that cool? For example, when you see the letter S, you know it makes the sound “sss” like a snake!
Before we learn the letters, we often learn the sounds they make. This helps us when we start reading. Some programs, like Jolly Phonics, teach us sounds first, and then we learn which letters make those sounds.
Once you know some sounds, you can start putting them together to make words. Let’s try with some sounds: s, a, and t. When you see these letters together, you can read the word “sat.” Isn’t that fun?
With just a few sounds, you can make lots of words! For example, with the sounds s, a, t, p, and i, you can make words like “sat,” “pat,” and “pin.” These are called CVC words, which means they have a consonant, a vowel, and another consonant.
Now you know the first step in phonics: decoding. With this skill, you can start reading lots of words and have fun with books. Keep practicing your sounds, and soon you’ll be a reading superstar!
Sound Hunt: Go on a sound hunt around your home or classroom! Find objects that start with the sounds s, a, and t. For example, you might find a sock for “sss,” an apple for “aaa,” and a toy for “ttt.” Share your findings with a friend or family member and practice saying the sounds together.
Sound Blending Game: Let’s play a game where you blend sounds to make words! Use letter cards or write letters on small pieces of paper. Mix up the letters s, a, t, p, and i. Pick three letters and try to blend them together to form a word. Can you make “sat,” “pat,” or “tip”? Try different combinations and see how many words you can create!
Story Time with Sounds: Choose a short storybook and look for words that use the sounds s, a, t, p, and i. As you read, point out these words and say the sounds out loud. Ask questions like, “What sound does this word start with?” or “Can you find a word that ends with ‘t’?” This will help you practice decoding while enjoying a story!
**Sanitized Transcript:**
[Music] Welcome to Learning More. Today, we are thinking about phonics and going through the different terminology and steps to teaching your child phonics, whether at school or at home.
We will look at step one, which is decoding. This is the first step in your child’s phonics journey. Decoding is the ability to recognize a letter and say the sound it represents. Children are often introduced to sounds before they learn the letters, depending on the phonics program they are following. Many phonics programs focus on sounds first, with letter representation introduced later.
The idea of decoding is that a child can look at a letter on a page or in a book and know the sound it represents. For example, if your child is following a program like Jolly Phonics, they will be introduced to letters, graphemes, and sounds early on. They might learn sounds like s, a, t, p, and i.
The reason for introducing these sounds first is that they can be combined to create a variety of words. For instance, once children learn the sounds s, a, and t, they can start decoding simple words. If they see the letters s, a, and t together, they can read the word “sat.” This allows them to create small CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, such as “pin” and “pat.”
There are many combinations your child can make with these letters, enabling them to decode and start reading. So, the first step in phonics is decoding.
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